Land of Dragon Trees
by Kate Marley
Summary: 1560. Instead of taking over part of his father's business, Arthur becomes a cabin boy on a merchant ship. At Tenerife, the captain of Arthur's ship wants him to stay on the island for a while in order to teach his language to Antonio, a merchant's son. Arthur is smitten by the beautiful Spaniard, but will he dare to show his feelings to him?


_Written for EngSpaWeek/EngSpaDay 2017 on tumblr (yeahhh, I'm a day late). I'd also like to gift this story to salytierra. Without you, I'd never even have considered writing SpUK! ;) I hope you'll like this._

* * *

Arthur was leaning over the railing, watching the island of Tenerife slowly drift closer. He had been working as a cabin boy for several months now, but now was the first time he saw a landscape this different from the English and French coasts. Blackish-brown rocks contrasted against a cloudless blue sky, enframing the wooden houses of Santa Cruz on the island's east coast. The closer they came, the better he was able to discern the fishing and sailing boats at the port.

"Kirkland!"

The harsh voice made Arthur turn, searching for his captain with his eyes. He straightened himself when he spotted the tall, bearded man who commanded the ship on which he was sailing.

"Ah, that's where you are!" Captain Harper gave Arthur a jovial slap on the shoulders that almost made the young man topple over. Arthur was no weakling, but his body was only gradually adjusting to the physically demanding work cabin boys were required to do. As a merchant's second son, he was used to being around heavy bales of wool, but he had hardly ever been expected to haul them around all by himself. As a cabin boy, however, he was required to carry heavy items that were part of the ship's charge without any help. Ironically, a large part of said cargo consisted of bales of combed cotton.

"You know quite a bit about trading, don't you?"

"Y—yes…" Arthur couldn't tell from his captain's voice if that was the answer he was expected to give, but it was the truth. He had learned a lot about his father's business; in fact, his father had been willing to leave half of it to his older brother and the other half to him instead of bequeathing everything on Dylan. Arthur, however … Arthur had wanted to see other parts of the world than just his father's house as well as the many different kinds of wool and cloth that were brought there. What was more, after his brother's engagement to a beautiful girl from another merchant family, his mother and grandmother had seemed to know no other topic but possible marriage candidates for Arthur. There were quite a few lovely young women among the daughters of the London merchant guild…

And there was the thing. Arthur didn't want to marry. Not only because he wasn't willing to settle down just yet, but ... in general, if he was able to make it possible in any way. He was worried he would turn any lovely girl his family chose for him into an embittered old hag within a matter of years because he couldn't for the life of him envision himself sleeping with a woman, let alone fathering children. On the other hand, he had never dared to seek out one of the male prostitutes that existed in London either, for fear of blackmail and of defiling his family's name.

In the end, leaving his family, travelling to Plymouth, and getting on the first ship willing to hire cabin boys without asking too many questions had seemed like the best option. Of course, "not asking questions" hadn't been a lasting attitude of the other sailors. Everyone knew by now Arthur was a merchant's son who wanted to see more of the world than just England, France, and Flanders. That was why Harper's following question surprised no one.

"You also know some Latin, right?"

"Well, yes; some..." Arthur had indeed had Latin at school, but he hadn't exactly been his teacher's most attentive pupil.

"That will have to suffice," the captain decided. "You're going to accompany me to Don Fernando, the Spaniard who buys most of my wool. He knows some English, but I want to have a chance to understand what him and the other Spaniards are talking, too."

Arthur rather doubted his Latin would suffice to understand Spanish, but he was smart enough to keep his quiet. Captain Harper was no violent person, but he needed to react when members of his crew showed disobedience. What was more, Arthur was actually interested in meeting these Spaniards. He only knew they were superstitious Catholics who didn't like his queen, but he had never actually met any of them.

This was why Arthur soon trod after the horse carrying Harper from Santa Cruz to La Laguna, the island's capital that was situated about three miles inland from the port. Two servants they had hired in a tavern at Santa Cruz were carrying Harper's heavy coffer, and Arthur was impressed they were sweating less in the summer sun than him who only carried his own sparse belongings.

Looking around, he saw vineyards to both sides of the path. Arthur realised this was one of the goods Captain Harper intended to trade for the wool their ship had charged.

The dusty path rose slowly. As soon as they had arrived at the crest of a hill, Arthur was able to spot misty, almost bluish mountaintops in the distance.

* * *

La Laguna was not much bigger than Santa Cruz, but its houses by the lake from which it had taken its name were spacious, giving off the air of relative wealth. There was a church in their centre and another large building behind walls next to it. Arthur only learned later it was a cloister. He had never seen one before since these institutions didn't exist in England anymore.

The captain slowly rode to a big house close to the churchyard, and the servants opened its gate for him. They entered a beautiful patio shaded by two trees with entwined trunks. They looked nothing like the ordinary trees Arthur knew from England. He soon learned they were called "dragon trees" and typical for Tenerife's landscape.

When Harper dismounted, the servants disappeared to a stable on one side of the patio with his horse. Almost at the same time, a man in expensive clothing stepped out of the house and greeted the captain as if he was an old friend. Don Fernando's hair was brown and somewhat curly. Like all older Spaniards Arthur had seen on the island so far, he wore a pointed beard.

Arthur only realised how much the heat had actually bothered him when he entered the cool interior of the house. Captain Harper advised him to sit at the lower part of a heavy wooden table in the parlour while Don Fernando and him sat at the other end. It didn't take long before more people with pointed beards as well as a female servant with trays of food appeared. Since Don Fernando was the only one who spoke English, albeit weirdly accented English, he functioned as a translator.

Their dialogue wasn't particularly unexpected—trading wool for wine and sugar; determining how many sugar for how much wool and at what prices—but it gave Arthur an opportunity to test whether he was actually able to understand Spanish. He found he was only capable of grasping individual words, such as _vino_ and _azúcar_ and _cantidad_. Trying to understand full sentences was nigh impossible unless said sentences were very short.

After their conversation, the captain went to the patio with the Spaniards, bidding them goodbye. He also had a longer conversation with Don Fernando that Arthur wasn't able to overhear because Harper had indicated to him to stay in the house. Then, Don Fernando went out of Arthur's sight while the captain returned to the parlour.

"Well, Arthur, you are my cabin boy, aren't you?" Captain Harper began.

"Yes, I am," Arthur replied dutifully.

"And I am your captain to whom you owe obedience."

"Yes?" Arthur didn't quite manage to keep his lack of trust out of his tone. He didn't know _what_ this conversation was leading to, but he realised it was supposed to lead to _something._

"You will stay here," Harper said. All of a sudden, Arthur felt goose pimples appear on his arms, and they had nothing to do with the fact he had entered a cool house after spending time in the heat.

"You're … you're _abandoning_ me on Tenerife?" It was difficult for Arthur to keep a sudden panic out of his voice. Leaving England was one thing; the prospect of spending the rest of his life on Tenerife, however…

"No, you silly fool!" The captain slapped the back of his head in a way that was a little rough but didn't hurt. "I want you to stay on Tenerife in order to teach English to Don Fernando's son and to pick up Spanish yourself. Don Fernando just told me he wants his son to become secretary of the Spanish envoy to England. It would be advantageous for Antonio to learn proper English before he leaves, and it would be advantageous for _me_ to have someone on my ship who is actually able to speak Spanish. I'm going to pick you up in a few months' time when I next sail to Tenerife."

Relief washed over Arthur. He took a deep breath. Perhaps staying on Tenerife for a while wasn't so bad. The island was as unlike as England as he could imagine. In the end, he had left in order to see other parts of the world, after all.

The parlour door opened once again, and Don Fernando pushed a young man about Arthur's age into the room. He looked sheepish and a little uneasy, but… Arthur swallowed. But this Antonio was still the most beautiful person he had seen in a long time. His skin was sun-tanned, his body muscular, and his wavy brown hair framed a roundish face with long lashes and full lips. Arthur was smitten.

Antonio took a step towards Arthur, breaking the spell by extending a hand towards the English cabin boy.

"So you are my new teacher," he said in heavily accented English. "Antonio Fernández Carriedo. My pleasure."

"Arthur Kirkland." Arthur knew he should have made some attempt at conversation, but watching Antonio was extremely distracting.

"Well, well," Harper said, hammering his cabin boy on both shoulders in a way that almost drove Arthur to his knees. "I'm sure the two of you will get along."

* * *

They did get along. Antonio was quite a reluctant student when it came to learning English, but he was happy to get to know a new person he could show around his island. Apparently, most of the other young men Antonio's age were either working already or had been sent to the mainland in order to receive a better education. The young Spaniard was able to work hard if his father so wished, but he was also glad if he could elope work in order to swim in a lagoon close to Santa Cruz, if he could go to the mountains in order to climb a little, or if he could just doze lazily under one of the trees in his father's orchard.

Arthur was reluctant to join Antonio in his swimming and climbing activities at first. Despite spending the past weeks on a ship, he had never learned how to swim, and there were simply no mountains in southern England where Arthur was from. Having Antonio hold him in the water while he taught him to swim was sweet torture, too. Luckily, following Antonio's instructions demanded so much of Arthur's attention that he couldn't think much about how a naked Antonio was holding him up in the water by the stomach, and how much he wanted his hand to touch about a foot lower.

Learning to swim was difficult for Arthur, but eventually, he managed and enjoyed it almost as much as Antonio did. Learning to climb was easier, but their trips to the mountains were also more physically demanding. The heat was less strong in that region than on the rest of the island, but walking and climbing with bags full of food and flasks of water was quite exhausting to Arthur nonetheless.

"Pretty nice here, isn't it?" Antonio was lying in the shade of a dragon tree that fended off the midday heat. They hadn't done any climbing yet as the way to the mountains was rather long and they had gone later than usual this time. The young Spaniard turned to the side, watching Arthur who had just finished his meal and now flopped down in the grass next to Antonio.

" _Muy agradable,"_ Arthur confirmed in Spanish. Teaching Antonio to speak English when they were alone had been quite the chore, but eventually, he had agreed. In the end, neither Arthur nor him wanted to anger Don Fernando when he next tested Antonio's abilities in the English language.

"Mmh…"

"Yes? What is it?" Arthur turned to Antonio. The young Spaniard was thinking about something; that much was clear.

"I sometimes wonder..." Antonio gave Arthur an inquisitive glance. "Do you miss your home? I know I'm going to miss Tenerife when I'm not there anymore."

"Well ... I occasionally do," Arthur replied with honesty. "But the reasons for which I left are still valid."

"And what are those reasons?"

Arthur gulped. All of a sudden he was unable to use his stock excuse of escaping his duties in his merchant family. Not when the mouth he had dreamed to kiss ever since he first saw Antonio was but inches from his own, so close he only needed to lean a little forward in order to touch it...

Arthur flinched away with a shocked yelp as he realised that was exactly what he was doing. His first impulse was to run, but a strong arm around his shoulder kept him from getting up.

Antonio was giving him a proper kiss, inching closer again with his body. His eyes were shut, but there was a crease between his brows betraying his concentration. Arthur gave a sigh and kissed him back.

Realising Arthur wasn't trying to get away anymore, Antonio brought a hand between their thighs and started to open Arthur's trousers.

"What—what are you doing?"

"Stroke us off together, obviously," Antonio breathed impatiently. "I've been waiting for far too long already."

* * *

After what seemed an indefinite amount of time to Arthur, they were lying entwined under that same dragon tree. Their clothes were gone and Arthur's nose was pressed in Antonio's locks, but other than that, not too much had changed. Antonio was still the same happy boy who needed to be reminded to speak English instead of Spanish every couple of sentences, and he was already planning to introduce Arthur to yet another strange activity: Diving.

"...and there's a mossy cavern filled with air, too!" Antonio told him excitedly. "It's not that difficult to reach; even someone like you who isn't perfect at swimming should manage. Also..." His voice sunk to a whisper, and he brought his mouth closer to Arthur's ear. "It would give us the opportunity to do the same as we just did, and we needn't worry about getting caught."

A small shiver ran down Arthur's spine. Some things had changed in the end, and he couldn't say he was particularly unhappy about that.

* * *

 **Notes**

The setting of this story takes inspiration from the beginning of the historical novel _Der Palast der Meere_ ("The Palace of the Seas", 2015) by German author Rebecca Gablé (*1964). In Germany, she is best known for a book series about the fictional Waringham family of which _Der Palast der Meere_ is the fifth instalment. Her only novel translated to English so far is _The Settlers of Catan_ (German _Die Siedler von Catan,_ 2003). It is based on the board game of the same name and gives a fictionalised account of the colonisation of Iceland in the Viking era. Some of her novels are available in languages other than German but to my knowledge, none of the books in the Waringham series. That's why I'd like to provide you with a summary of those parts of the plot that are relevant to my story. You don't have to read the following paragraphs in order to understand the story, of course, but I'd still like to enable you to see what her ideas are and where mine start.

London, March 1560. Isaac, who lives in London with relatives, learns that the son and heir of his elder brother Francis, Earl of Waringham, has become blind due to an illness. Isaac now worries he might become Francis' heir because a blind man normally cannot inherit a title. He feels inept to assume that responsibility. Instead of coming back to Waringham Castle, Isaac steals a boat and makes his way to Plymouth where he wins sailor's clothes in gamble.

Some of the ships in the port of Plymouth load up with bales of cloth and other goods. Isaac takes a barrel full of salt and carries it onto a ship called _Solomon_ where he hides in the cargo hold behind other barrels. But the _Solomon_ doesn't ship goods to one of the ports on the Continent; it is the ship of John Hawkins (1532-1595) who is on his way to Tenerife. Hawkins doesn't know who this "Isaac Fitzgervais" really is, but he allows him to stay on the ship as a cabin boy.

When they arrive in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in May, Hawkins sells his worsted yarn to a Spanish man called Don Pedro Soler as well as to some other merchants and planters in exchange for sugar and wine. The exchange of goods is almost completed when Hawkins tells Isaac he won't sail on with the _Solomon._ He has made an agreement with Soler that Isaac will remain on Tenerife. Don Pedro wants his son Fernando to learn English because he is to go to London as secretary of the Spanish envoy to Queen Elizabeth's court the following year.

That way, Isaac is forced to stay on Tenerife as Don Pedro's slave for at least one year when Hawkins will return and maybe, _maybe_ take him back to England. Fernando is nice enough and doesn't want to become an envoy's secretary either; he wants to be an officer and travel the seas. But they both have to fulfil Hawkins' and Don Pedro's wishes: Fernando has to learn English.


End file.
